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BJP rules out alliance with BSP

LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party has ruled out any pre- or post-poll alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party.

The possibility of Chief Minister Mayawati moving towards the National Democratic Alliance has been making rounds of political circles following the BSP’s withdrawal of support to the UPA government.

Reiterating the party’s stand on the issue, the BJP described Ms. Mayawati’s withdrawal of support as a political stunt.

Party’s State unit president Ramapati Ram Tripathi said here on Sunday that the political drama was staged by Ms. Mayawati to divert the people’s attention from serious issues such as price rise and corruption.

Mr. Tripathi said the move was meaningless as the UPA government was not formed with the BSP’s support.

Mr. Tripathi told reporters that the question of an alliance with an opportunist party like the BSP did not arise. For the saffron party, the Lok Sabha elections would revolve around the BJP-led NDA and the Congress-led UPA. Regional parties had no stake in government formation at the Centre, they could only play the role of political blackmailers, Mr. Tripathi said.

Regarding the party’s preparedness for next year’s Lok Sabha polls, he said a preliminary assessment had been made on all the 80 parliamentary seats in Uttar Pradesh, which also included shortlisting the names of the possible candidates.

Election campaign

He said the BJP’s Lok Sabha election campaign would be launched by the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, L.K. Advani, at the “Vijay Sankalp” (resolve for victory) rally in Kanpur on June 27. Subsequently, political rallies would be held in other parts of the State.

Blaming the UPA government for the price rise and threat to internal security, Mr. Tripathi said the twin issues would constitute the poll plank of the BJP.